What if we told you that every day, tens of millions of Americans are exposed to something that contributes to neurological disease, depression, and an increased risk of heart disease and stroke? What if we also told you that in causing these health harms, it was disproportionately affecting low-wealth communities and communities of color?
You’d probably respond by saying that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should be protecting the public against it. After all, Congress has tasked these and other agencies with addressing exactly these kinds of threats for nearly a century now.
What is this dangerous “something”? It’s excessive noise. And, as it happens, more than 50 years ago, Congress recognized the seriousness of the harms that excessive noise causes and, as a result, passed a law directing the EPA to take aggressive action against it.
Few people today know about the Noise Control Act (NCA) of 1972. But during the 1970s — when the notion that industry should not be able to profit at the expense of the public interest was more widely accepted — the EPA made a lot progress implementing that law, clamping down on noise from such sources as portable air compressors, garbage trucks, and interstate railroads, while establishing labeling requirements for other noisy products and helping local communities develop their own noise control policies.
That progress came to a screeching halt in the 1980s, with the arrival of President Ronald Reagan and his administration’s commitment to shrinking government and rolling back regulatory safeguards, which effectively gave corporate polluters carte blanche do what they please with minimal consequences. The NCA remains on the books today — Reagan and his conservative allies weren’t able to repeal the law — but it has lain dormant for over four decades, after Reagan’s budget office zeroed out funding for the office responsible for implementing the NCA.
In a report released today, we, along with co-author Sasha Kliger, call on policymakers to bring this law back to life. Specifically, the report calls on lawmakers to restore funding to the Office of Noise Abatement and Control (ONAC), the bureau within the EPA charged with implementing the NCA. This should be a much easier lift than passing new legislation, and indeed there is recent precedent for restoring funding to moribund agencies. It’s also possible that EPA could get a head start by redirecting existing resources toward NCA implementation.
The report also lays out a detailed agenda for the president to quickly begin fulfilling the NCA’s statutory goals consistent with present day challenges and priorities. This comprehensive agenda covers everything from regulatory priorities and actions on labeling and low-noise product development to research needs and technical assistance strategies.
It is long past time that we revive this important law. While the scientific evidence regarding the public health harms of excessive noise was strong in the 1970s, it has only grown in the ensuing years. Importantly, we now have evidence demonstrating that these harms are disproportionately borne by structurally marginalized members of our society, including low-wealth communities and communities of color. In short, noise is a crucial environmental justice issue.
We also know that excessive noise harms the economy. By increasing fatigue (from sleep disruption) and impacting concentration, noise pollution can contribute to productivity losses and learning impairment. Research shows that these effects are particularly acute for children, affecting their ability to learn in school. (Just as importantly, these effects can be reversed by implementing the very measures ONAC could establish and enforce).
But there’s also an important bonus to robust implementation of the NCA, which would not have been apparent to its original drafters: It would reinforce our current efforts to tackle the climate crisis. Internal combustion engines don’t just generate carbon pollution; they’re noisy, too. And the electric alternatives are a lot quieter. Importantly, noise control standards would also address product categories that the EPA’s climate-focused regulations might not otherwise reach, such as gas-powered lawn equipment.
You can learn about the history of ONAC, the details of the NCA, and what effective implementation of the law could do for us today in our report. Give it a look.
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James Goodwin, Will Dobbs-Allsopp | January 31, 2024
What if we told you that every day, tens of millions of Americans are exposed to something that contributes to neurological disease, depression, and an increased risk of heart disease and stroke? What if we also told you that in causing these health harms, it was disproportionately affecting low-wealth communities and communities of color? What is this dangerous “something”? It’s excessive noise. And, as it happens, more than 50 years ago, Congress recognized the seriousness of the harms that excessive noise causes and, as a result, passed a law directing the EPA to take aggressive action against it.
Robin Kundis Craig | January 11, 2024
Fisheries regulation might seem to be unusual grounds for the U.S. Supreme Court to shift power away from federal agencies. But that is what the court seems poised to do in the combined cases of Loper Bright Enterprises vs. Raimondo and Relentless Inc. vs. Department of Commerce.
Daniel Farber | January 10, 2024
State climate policy is a big deal. State governments began cutting emissions at a time when the federal government was essentially doing nothing about climate change. Since then, more states have become involved. Part II of this post covers state climate action from New Jersey to Washington State during the second half of 2023, as well as multi-state efforts.
Daniel Farber | January 10, 2024
State climate policy is a big deal. State governments began cutting emissions at a time when the federal government was essentially doing nothing about climate change. Since then, more states have become involved, and state policies have become more aggressive. It’s not for nothing that 2023 was called a banner year for state climate action. The state developments in just the second half of the year make up an impressive list. Part I of this post covers state climate action from California to Michigan.
Dan Rohlf, Zygmunt Plater | January 2, 2024
In the history of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) — which President Richard Nixon signed just over 50 years ago on December 28, 1973 — no creature looms larger than the snail darter. As some lawmakers today seek to weaken the law’s promise to avoid human-caused extinctions, the long-ago battle over this little fish points […]
Daniel Farber | December 11, 2023
The steel industry applied for U.S. Supreme Court intervention on what they claimed was an urgent issue of vast national importance. Chief Justice Roberts requested an immediate government response. That was six weeks ago. Since then ... crickets. No doubt you’re on the edge of your seat, wondering about the impending crisis facing the industry and the earthshaking legal issue in the case. And maybe also wondering why this is the first you’ve heard about it.
Kaitlyn Johnson | November 27, 2023
One in five residents in Baltimore, and one in three Black residents, lives in food deserts — areas where people face systemic barriers to accessing affordable and healthy foods. It’s a problem that has long evaded effective policy solutions. But the rapidly evolving technology of e-commerce platforms offers a new way to bring food justice and security to structurally marginalized communities across the country.
Hannah Wiseman | November 16, 2023
A recent Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania decision has thrown Pennsylvania’s actions on climate change into further disarray. In 2021, through regulatory action by its Department of Environmental Protection, Pennsylvania became a member of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). RGGI is a collection of Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states that have agreed to cap emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from electric power plants with 25 megawatts or more of generating capacity. The cap includes an overall regional limit and a cap for each state. Power plants must purchase allowances or offset their emissions (or pursue other options noted below) to collectively meet the state cap. But lawsuits have challenged Pennsylvania’s entry into RGGI, and on November 1, a memorandum opinion of the Commonwealth Court declared that Pennsylvania’s scheme for auctioning CO2 allowances under the state’s RGGI cap was an unconstitutional tax. The court voided the rulemaking.
Catalina Gonzalez | November 15, 2023
On November 15, I joined Member Scholar and University of San Francisco School of Law professor Alice Kaswan in releasing an in-depth analysis of California’s climate and clean energy funding programs for the state’s historically marginalized and underserved communities. The set of reports and fact sheets, "Funding a Clean and Equitable Energy Transition: Lessons from California," follows the recent publication of the Center’s California Climate Justice Index, which details the laws, executive orders, agencies, funding processes, and funding programs that shape climate policy for the nation’s most populous state.